The Indianapolis Colts are 8-2 and have had the most productive offense in football through 11 weeks.
However, in the Colts’ previous two games leading up to the bye week, turnovers and pressure on the quarterback were two issues that popped up.
For much of the season, those aspects haven’t been problems for the Colts.
But against Pittsburgh, the Colts turned the ball over six times. A week later, against Atlanta, Indianapolis turned it over twice, and it could have easily been four giveaways had the Colts not recovered two of their own fumbles.
Six of the eight fumbles have come from Jones. He’s also thrown four interceptions.
Creating some of those turnovers has been the added pressure that Jones has had to face. Over that same two-game stretch, he has been sacked 12 times and hit 13 times by Pittsburgh and Atlanta.
“I think it’s everything working together with that stuff,” Jones said of the turnover and protection problems. “And obviously a lot on me. I’ve gotta do a good job protecting the ball in those situations in the pocket and wherever on the field. I gotta protect the ball and make sure that’s always paramount. We all work to help each other. I gotta get the ball out on time and get the ball to the open guy, but we’re confident. We’ve done a really good job with that all season, so we’ll continue to do that.”
The Colts were able to overcome those miscues against the Falcons, but suffered their second loss of the season to the Steelers.
With, on paper anyway, one of the more challenging schedules over the final seven games of the season, the Colts’ ability to regain their previous form of taking care of the ball and keeping Jones upright will be important factors in those contests.
It goes without saying, but even with a highly productive offense, winning becomes a lot more difficult when giving the ball away and when the quarterback is facing steady pressure.
With all that said, given the Colts’ entire body of work this season, as of now, the turnovers and pressures are more of a blip on the radar until there becomes a larger sample size over more games.
This article originally appeared on Colts Wire: Daniel Jones weighs in on how Colts can fix 2 recent issues
Reporting by Paul Bretl, Colts Wire / Colts Wire
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
